{{{{{rigs}}}}}
I empathize with you. Sis and I didn’t share a birthday, but she left this world far too early. And when I turned 38, a year older thn she was when she passed away, it was very weird. How is it that I was suddenly older than my older sister. I’ll pour a Comso, and bring you over a piece of cake.
Great OP Rigs, I wish you were making three cakes too. I hope you have a happy and fulfilling birthday on Thursday.
Hi all, I’m all back from vacation and rested up and ready to act like I love my job again. The fishing was great - I brought back 110lbs of salmon, halibut, and cod from Tofino.
Odd that I don’t eat fish, no?
Good morning alll. T.G.I.M. I think we’ll go to the dog park before it gets too hot. Great OP rigs! I’m an only child, so I got Betty Crocker to bake cakes for me. :Toasts Leigh and Sandy(my mother’s name) :
Welcome back, kai. Pirok sounds tasty.
Haze, I also want to hear the honey story.
Nava, there’s some sportscasters in the U.S. that could learn a thing or two from you.
welby, I’ll take the fish. Maggie Wonderbeagle and I are fish fanatics.
Good morning, everyone! 7:30 and already the day promises to be sweltering. Joy.
Welcome back kai! Glad to hear you are getting better.
swampy, good luck! Congrats again on re-joining us workin’ people. 
My honey story? Well, as I was walking home yesterday, a complete stranger grabbed my hand and said, “Darling, your beauty blinds me. I want nothing more than to drizzle you in honey and lick it slowly off your perfect skin while . . .”
Hm? Oh, you want to know what ACTUALLY happened. 
A rather boring story, unfortunately. I was trying to get the last of the honey out of the bottle and into my tea, but it refused to come out. So I was shaking the bottle rather vigorously when suddenly it did come out - only to land mostly on my head. My brother was amused, although I was less so.
You’ll have to fight welbywife and the kids for it. Be careful though, they all fight dirty, and don’t think twice about biting.
Morning, everyone! Just confirming my continued existence.
Rigs, that was a beautiful OP. I’ll remember on Thursday to have a glass of something for Leigh and Sandy. Maybe I’ll make three cakes–just because I like cake.
I have yet another job interview at 10:00, and at this point, I can no longer work up any enthusiasm for the process. I’m showered and makeupped and blow-dried, but not yet actually dressed, lest I end up covered in cat hair. My unemployment runs out this week, and after that, I guess I’ll have to start temping. Not my favorite thing, but better than being destitute, I suppose.
My innards have rebelled against me again, and I’m assuming I’ve got some more cysts (although now I’m also worried about appendicitis again, thanks to kai ). I called my doctor, and they were nice enough to get me an appointment a week and a half from now. How kind of them. The problem is that when it starts to hurt, I start to panic, which wasn’t so bad last year, when I still had a prescription for Xanax. Now, I am left to lay on the couch with a heating pad and try not to freak out. Stoopid cysts. It’s just painful enough that I don’t want to do anything but lie there and quietly fret, and just not-painful-enough that I’m afraid I’m overreacting, which bounces me back and forth between self-pity and panic a little more than I would like. Ah, well. The doctor’s office said to call again tomorrow and see if they had a sooner appointment. Perhaps if I point out that I’m still in pain after a week, they’ll deign to let me visit and then keep me in the exam room, waiting, for two hours like last time.
Oh, I suppose I should go get dressed and go to my interview. Honestly, I’m not sure why I bother. Oh, yeah. So I can eat.
haze - the first version is better, I’d tell everyone that one.
**rigs, ** the 12th has been duly noted on my calendar. I’m singing. probably off key.
Great OP by the way - birthdays are a weird thing for s lot of people. Dad dies on my sister’s birthday 15 years ago this month.
Ok - to work. I’ll be back.
Good morning, all!
Wonderful OP, rigsy. I lost my older sister 19 years ago, and I still miss her, too. I was lucky and had my birthday all to myself though!
:: raises coffee cup to Leigh and Sandy::
Thanks for the bull run stories, Nava. Sounds completely nuts to me!
Good luck at your new job, Swampy!
Kai, I’m so glad you’re feeling better! I missed you! I love hearing about Alaska. I’ll take some of that pirok pie. Sounds yummy! Can you post a recipe for it?
Drae, good luck on the interview. I can understand you not being “up” for it. Here’s hoping it’s your last one! Appendages crossed for you.
Monday. Ugh. I brought some leftovers for a couple of my coworkers. I made Pork Chop Parmesan and pasta primavera last night. I have a lot of pasta left over! It was yummy, made with roasted veggies. No cream sauce in this recipe, it was very light.
Mr Rebo has today off to go get an MRI on his left shoulder, which has been tentatively diagnosed as a torn rotator cuff. :eek: He’s also having trouble with some kind of sciatica pain down his left leg, and they’ll scan his back, too. Poor baby. I hope it’s not too bad.
Ok, I’m off to go scrounge up some work. Le sigh. (Maybe I’ll just keep surfing. :D)
Before I read all the responses I wanted to check in and say - great OP, sweetly bitter, with lots of memories. Brought a bunch back to me, too, and I’ll share a story finally after years.
Ignore this part if you want:
When I had my 16th birthday party as was the custom in my community we invited a whole bunch of Indian families and rented a hall. We had a custom, which I had started, of having dance performances during the night; that is, various teen girls would either get together and perform or perform solo. I did one, as did most of my friends.
When time came for my best friend to perform, she was nowhere to be found. The whole thing ground to a halt as we searched for her. I was angry and hurt, and we went on without her.
An hour later my friend showed up, with a bunch of HER friends. They’d gone out in the middle of my party, because they “needed to pick up a new copy of the tape, it was a bad sound”.
In retrospect I should have smiled and said, “No problem, we’ll schedule you right now,” and gone on. Hey, I was 16, too. I got mad, and got in a fight with her. Nothing big, a little yelling, a little hurt feelings and we moved on.
What made it all really terrible though is after the party my family said they had seen it and they blamed it entirely on ME. They refused to even believe that she had left the party. They accused me of lying to find a reason to pick a fight in the middle of my party. It was my mother and my two aunts against me, and I wasn’t even allowed to speak up in my defense. They yelled at me for hours and then gave me the silent treatment.
The next day they made me call **every one ** of my friends and aplogize. I did so, crying. Most of them didn’t even know what the hell I was talking about. My best friend apologized for leaving the party and we made up.
The moral of this story is - that was most of my teen years. Guilt, anger, and frustration - never being allowed to speak up for myself, and never feeling “forgiven” - all because this was only two years after I found out about my illigitimate origins.
That went on way longer than I expected, but I’ve wanted to tell that story for a long, long time.
In other news, we had a HELL of a thunderstorm this morning. It woke me up but it was really impressive - sounded like the rainstorm was coming in the window! I lay awake listening to it - the SO was already up, and downstairs. It made me think of this song:
Rabba rabba mi varsa Sadi koti daaney pa
aaj mera ji karda, mei ut jaa naale haava vava
ki meri kismat ne karditiya tandiya chaava …
ke aaj mera jee karda, mei lut jaava
lut jaa naale haava vava, aaj mera ji karda,
God, my god, the rain falls upon my house today
O today my heart desires that I fly away with the whole wind
That my destiny always hold cool breezes
That I may lose all I have in love
Lose all I have with the wind,
O my heart desires
Pretty song, Mika. And hugs for you, you had a rough upbringing. {{{Mika}}}
Hoists glass of sparkling cranberry juice to Leigh and Sandy
Here, everyone. Have some cake. Almond sponge with raspberries or chocolate with chocolate ships?
Still too tired from having houseguests to make a proper post. We had three people sleeping here on Saturday, plus a ten-person party that night, and a constantly rotating number of bodies in the house from Tuesday. I had the best time ever, but now I’m exhausted. Some tea, and then off to the laundromat.
{{Mika}} – I’ve heard some of the stories of your childhood before, but this one has got to be one of the worst I’ve ever heard about dysfunctional parents 
[hijack]rabba means “God” in Hindi? Is that a loan-word from Arabic? Because in the Semitic language group, the same root means something like “great”, “leader” or “majority” – sounds related somehow [bye, Jack]
looks dubiously at the cakes
Is it ok if I just eat the raspberries off the top? I…don’t really like either, much.
Noone Special and Dolores Reborn, please don’t think that I think my upbringing was so terible. It was bad, but I know many other people suffered way more than me. At least I had a roof over my head, and clothes, and plenty of food. But thank you very much for the sympathies. Noone Special has some idea that the scars don’t just go away.
As for “rabba”, it is in Urdu which is weirdly similar to Hindi in speaking and Arabic in writing. I can understand an Urdu speaker but can’t read any of the writing. I love both Hindi and Urdu poetry, I think it’s some of the most beautiful in the world.
Uh … has anyone seen my weekend? I put it down for barely a moment and it seems to have wandered off. I swear, I can’t trust Friday to watch anything for me.
So, it’s suddenly Monday again. Caffeine infusion progressing. Being that it rained on and off yesterday, it is now hot and humid out today. My PDA tells me it’s 26° (~79F) but it feels a good 5 degrees hotter. I mean, I love the summer and all, but the damnably muggy days I can do without.
Anyway, great OP, Rigs. It seems as though even though you now have your own party, it is at least partly still for your sisters in that you think of them and honor their memories when you celebrate. I was born an only child, so my experience with having to share my life and achievements, whatever they may be, with siblings is nil. (Of course, being an only child brings with it issues of its own.) Likewise I know nothing of what it is like to outlive siblings, though I don’t imagine it is any easier than losing any other close relative. I haven’t any beerverages to raise, so I’ll just raise my bottle of water.
CelloDude - Having been born into and brought up in a heathen, Godless household, I can only shake my head at the intolerance of some devout theists. Especially when it involves the attitudes of some parents towards their own children, who have grown up to have differing religious beliefs. I can understand it to a degree – fearing that you will be damned for all eternity if you insist on pursuing your sinful, blasphemous ways. That is, I can understand the fear involved in believing that someone you love is heading down a path you believe will harm them irreparably. I just can’t understand how such beliefs can so blind people to everything else that must surely mitigate their otherwise “sinful” ways. I mean, even if I believed in God, I can’t imagine him being that boss that everyone hates because they get written up for being 45 seconds late from break and aren’t allowed to fraternize around the water cooler. He strikes me more as the sort of dude who’d say, “Y’know, you should try to be a little more punctual, but hey, shit happens, so it’s cool.” But that’s just me; I hope your parents can be brought around to see the good side of things.
Hank - I’ll just pretend that it was the second version of that story was made up. 
Mika - Yeah, that sounds like some serious dysfunction, but I guess it goes to show that such things transcend race or religion, and that no matter where you’re from, reason and common sense do not necessarily factor into things they ought to by default.
Special1 - Interesting. There’s a chain of food stores in Ontario called Rabba Fine Foods. It’s kind of a cross between a regular supermarket and a variety store, being of middling size and such. I’m thinking it must be of Arabic origin, as “Great fine foods” makes more sense than “God’s fine foods.” Or at least less blasphemous. And “Food of the Gods” is giving this particular chain way too much credit.
LiLi Almond sponge with raspberries, please and thank you!
Just got back from my morning break. It’s already jumped 3 degrees outside and it’s becoming quite a scorcher.
It’s more likely they just wanted God’s name somewhere in the title. So it’d probably be O God, Fine Foods.
I must say, the almond sponge sounds delicious (I love red berries in general), but the combination of chocolate and sailing wins hands down. Please tell me it’s low-sugar?
More cross-pollination. Rigs, in Spain the “hockey by default” is also the one played “on grass”; if it’s “on ice” or “on skates” it must be specified.
Mika, lovely poem. I’m sad that you’ve had such pain in your life but also glad that you’re being able to lose it - does that make sense?
Morning, all. That was a beautiful OP, rigs. <raises a glass> To Leigh and Sandy. I only have one sister, who’s two years older than me, but since she has Parkinson’s, unless they find a cure in the next ten years or so, I fear she will go before I do. Which is a really strange and sad thought. I can’t imagine how you guys who have already lost siblings must feel, but I do know that your sharing about them is the best way to honor them.
Alice and I were both sitting here in the house feeling waaay too warm, and I just discovered why – the living room is always the coldest room in the house, and since Papa Tigs is still having to sleep sitting up in the recliner, apparently he turned the AC up to 78° last night! :eek: So it’s back down to its proper 74° – I keep it as warm as I can without actively sweating, but when I’m sitting here working, there’s not a lot of air circulation in my office so any warmer than that is really uncomfortable. I shall have Words with him this evening.
I can understand why you’d be drawn to sky, zeze. And clouds. Like Pooh. Also like Pooh, I have spent many happy, lazy hours of my life playing Poohsticks and contemplating nothing much. It’s very peaceful. I love watching the sky. One of my fondest memories was riding a train when I was a teenager from Chicago down to Iowa to visit relatives, and it was night and there was a thunderstorm as only the Great Plains can produce. We lay on the floor of the dome car and watched the sky; we could see the whole thing, and the lightning was branching out just incredibly, while we were cozy and dry. The sky is so amazing!
I plan to have a nice, quiet day today. There’s not much I have to do, so I shall do only what I feel like. Which, right now, is as little as possible.
Good luck to the newly employed/interviewing/recovering from illness folks. Happy Monday to everybody but Special One; he gets a Happy Tuesday since his Monday is our Tuesday. If you know what I mean. If not, don’t sprain your brains trying to figure it out.
Isn’t that the one where George Burns recruits a grocery clerk to spread the word?
Ugh. Can I crawl back under the covers and start today over? It is Not Going Well.
An automated process didn’t run correctly over the weekend so I started it manually from home last night.
The manual process didn’t run correctly last night so I kicked it off manually again before going to the gym this morning.
That didn’t run right. So we built a work-around this morning.
Which isn’t running right.
And the weekly database update didn’t run (or at least hasn’t finished… it’s supposed to be done by 8 a.m. CDT). So we’re using the previously built work-around on that. Except that we’ve made some changes to the standard procedure so the work-around won’t run right.
Oh and the work-around has never been tested so even if/when I get it to run, I have very little confidence in the data. But I don’t have the standard data to test against so I just have to go with it.
And a load process that needed to be run before an email went out this morning didn’t run because of a mistake that someone else made but I didn’t catch. So the email went out but the data wasn’t loaded. Gah! Fortunately that one’s been fixed.
And the prank that I tried to play on a coworker who’s been out on vacation fell apart. (We usually do something to anyone who’s out… 'cause we’re fun like that.) See, I had to borrow something from someone else in order for the prank to work. But she wasn’t in on Friday to ask so I emailed her and let her know what I’d done, but she wasn’t into it so I had to undo the prank. So no prank for the vacationer and possibly (I couldn’t tell) the other coworker is upset. I don’t think she was mad really since I fixed everything right away, but I did feel bad about borrowing something without asking. I don’t usually do that but she was out and there wasn’t any one else to borrow from. ::sigh::
Maybe the day will get better from here.
Sorry to hear about your sisters, rigs. That was a very bittersweet OP.
Hugs to everyone else. I have to go try to clean up messes.
I thought it was the one where George Burns gets a job as a bagboy at Whole Foods!
I’d like a bunch of chocolate ships if you don’t mind!